Grace Place ad in SLANT (circa 1991)

In a discussion this afternoon at Chiocca’s, as the Mets vs. Braves game played out on television, a small group of baby boomers spent a few minutes naming the local restaurants we missed the most. Once the list got too long, we narrowed it down to the five most-missed that were located within the borders of Richmond’s Fan District when they were open (Broad St. to the north, Belvidere the the east, Cary to the south and North Boulevard to the west).
My own alphabetical list of the five Fan District eateries for which I’m still carrying a torch is as follows:

• Grace Place at 826 W. Grace St.
• John & Norman’s at 2525 Hanover Ave.
• J.W. Rayle at Cary and Pine Sts.
• Mad King Ludwig’s at 907 W. Grace St.
• The Texas-Wisconsin Border Cafe at 1501 W. Main St.

Readers are invited to use the comments section to suggest other Fan District restaurants that should be added to our list of the favorite-but-no-longer-existing. Two other favorites of mine were suggested to me in a subsequent conversation — the original Village Restaurant; the Chesterfield Tea Room.

Ed. Note: This post was updated on Sunday.